4 ms·
A pretty good article overall but he seems to go off the rails when he starts talking about construction costs and assumes that a thorium reactor would cost the
by GiraffeNecktie 14y ago
A pretty good article overall but he seems to go off the rails when he starts talking about construction costs and assumes that a thorium reactor would cost the same as a uranium reactor. My understanding is that a thorium reactor should be dramatically cheaper for a variety of reasons (no need for a big containment bubble for one thing).
- aidenn0 14y agoThat is currently all speculative. We don't know how much it would cost to build a thorium reactor. There is strong evidence that it would be cheaper, but has yet to be demonstrated. To quote the article: "Safety features of nuclear plants seem to dominate the cost. There are many claims about the inherent safety features of thorium Molten Salt Reactors. But those claims have yet to be proven in working prototypes. If thorium reactor designs and prototypes could prove the claims of inherent safety mechanisms, then thorium could dramatically reduce the cost of nuclear power."